LoveReading4Kids Says
With its clear quest, a richly evoked world of Slavic myth, and relatable themes of friendship, loss and love, Gabriela Houston’s The Wind Child will delight dedicated readers who like their fiction infused with timeless magic and driven by derring-do. Recommended for fans of The House With Chicken Legs and The Girl Who Speaks Bear, this is also perfect for reading as a class, and using as a springboard to explore folklore, myths and legends.
Twelve-year-old Mara‘s dad is a mortal human, while her mother is the beautiful, powerful daughter of Stribog, the god of winter winds. Though born in Striborg’s palace, Mara “didn’t belong in it, as she was often reminded. Her lack of powers and her lack of beauty, Her lack of wit and, most disappointingly, her lack of magic. Mara was defined by the lack of all the things she should have been. And her mother was shamed by it.”
On her beloved father’s death, Mara and her new friend Torvic, a brave bear-shifter, embark on a hazardous quest to the Slavic afterlife to bring him back from the world of the dead. Disproving her mother’s view that she has no wit, Mara throws herself into a race against time that sees the pair undertake a perilous voyage to the Island of Summer. Rejecting the possibility of staying there forever, “in the sun and the warmth and the comfort”, they venture on to Baba Latingorka’s cave guided by the moon-pearl.
Alongside the elemental power of beautiful goddesses, trickster gods, and shape-shifting, serpent-tongued beasts, Mara’s struggle is very human, often physical, and always driven by love, with the thrilling finale seeming to set the stage for a sequel.
Joanne Owen
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The Wind Child Synopsis
Packed with a colourful Slavic cast of tempestuous gods and frightening monsters, The Wind Child is above all a story about friendship, and how far you would go and what you would sacrifice to avoid saying goodbye to someone you love.
No human has ever returned from Navia, the Slavic afterlife. But twelve-year-old Mara is not entirely human. She is the granddaughter of Stribog, the god of winter winds and she's determined to bring her beloved father back from the dead.
Though powerless, Mara and her best friend Torniv, the bear-shifter, set out on an epic journey to defy the gods and rescue her father. On their epic journey they will bargain with forest lords, free goddesses from enchantments, sail the stormy seas in a ship made of gold and dodge the cooking pot of the villainous Baba Latingorka. Little do the intrepid duo know of the terrible forces they have set in motion, for the world is full of darkness and Mara will have to rely on her wits to survive.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781912979783 |
| Publication date: |
3rd February 2022 |
| Author: |
Gabriela Houston |
| Publisher: |
UCLan Publishing |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
231 pages |
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About Gabriela Houston
Gabriela Houston is a London-based writer. She was born in Poland and raised in a book-loving household on the nourishing diet of mythologies, classics and graphic novels. She had spent much of her early school years holed up in the library, only feeling truly herself in the company of Jack London’s trappers and Lucy Maud Montgomery’s red-headed orphan, among many others.
She came to the UK at 19 to follow her passion for literature and she completed her undergraduate and Masters degrees at Royal Holloway, University of London.
After her studies she worked in publishing for a few years. She now lives with her family in Harrow, where she pursues her life-long passion for making stuff up.
She’s the cohost of a YouTube channel, Bookish Take, which focuses on a writer’s journey from the initial idea through to the publication process and beyond!
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